Half Blood Prince
by Usagi Youkai
Summary: Sequel to 'Fire Child'. Heisui, Zuko and Sokka's firs son, goes on his own adventure to see the world and find out who he is.
1. Family

Half Blood Prince

This is the sequel to the completed story, Fire Child. This story had been waiting for a little bit. There are other stories that are going to be put up that branch off, I just have to get to them and finish them. Right now though, I feel like an existing being whose only porpose is to watch Queer as Folk and eat ice cream. Anyway, I'm getting off my ass and posting this, finally.

This story is mainly about Heisui and how things are 9 years later in the Fire Nation. If you have not read Fire Child, this story will not make much sense. Enjoy

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Zuko, Fire Lord of the Fire Nation, was busy with documents, reading requests from his people and information from the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes. He groaned and rubbed his temples as he heard short brisk pacing of feet and crying coming into his work room. He didn't have time for this, he had things to do, and things to memorize before his advisors came to pester him again… 

"Daddy, daddy, daddy!" a shrill whine met his ears and perhaps if he was younger and this wasn't his youngest daughter, he would have snapped at her, but he never could. He sighed and turned to look at the dark skinned 3 year old, her large red-brown eyes filled with tears as she stood beside his desk, bottom lip trembling. She would jump into his arms for a hug, but she knew her daddy didn't appreciate it.

"What is it Kasumi?" he asked and he moved his chair back, noting that she was soaked, her black hair weighed down by water, as well as her smoke grey Fire Nation dress. He opened his arms and she climbed into his lap, getting her father wet and slinging her little arms his neck. Normally he hated getting wet, but with his children he tolerated it, "Why are you soaked." She sniffled, a booger drooling out of her nose from being upset

"Urame hit me with a water ball when he missed Heisui!" she cried and sobbed, letting out a wail like the toddler she was. Zuko winced from her loud cry and he shushed her. He knew he couldn't yell at his daughter, it would only make her cry more. He rocked her back and forth gently and while she still cried, she no longer made an ear drum shattering wail, her sobs dying to whimpers.

"I didn't mean to hit her!" A young pale boy with brown hair protested loudly as he ran into the room. He had chased his younger sister to make his own story known; he was 6 years old with blue eyes.

"I told you not to throw water in the palace." Zuko growled angrily at his second youngest child.

"It was an accident!" Urame exclaimed and Kasumi started crying again, "I didn't even hit you that hard!"

"Yes you did!" she sobbed and cried harder and louder. Urame kept denying the force of the water; and after a moment of this Zuko already had a throbbing headache.

"Where is your mother?!" Zuko suddenly exclaimed, but it didn't quell Kasumi's crying or Urame trying to yell over his sister to be heard. Zuko stood, the darker skinned girl still in his arms, and he walked out of the room, his youngest son following. One or two guards looked around from their posts to see what the noise was. Zuko pointed at one of the guards, "You!" the guard was slightly startled by the agitated Fire Lord, but he stood straight, ready for an order. Kasumi's cries died momentarily into a whimper again, catching her breath from all the crying, yet she was still very upset. Urame fell silent as his sister did, glancing at her, wondering if he really had hurt her. "Where is my spouse?"

"I-I believe the library, sir." The guard replied, a little intimidated by the angry Fire Lord.

"Where is my uncle?"

"With La... uh, your spouse." The guard said and Zuko marched off, ignoring the guard's slip up. Urame grabbed onto the bottom of his father's shirt hem and tagged along, and Kasumi whimpered, a new swell of tears starting in the corners of her red brown eyes.

"Hush, it's only a little water." Zuko murmured.

"It hurt." She whined.

"I didn't hit you hard." Urame huffed.

"Did too." Kasumi replied and Zuko entered the library, immediately seeing the two he was looking for. His spouse, Sokka, was lounging in the love seat in the back, stretched out on it, a book on past records of Fire Nation technology, resting against his enlarged belly; the book fascinated him greatly. Zuko let out a sigh; normally he was glad to see his lover, but at the moment, Kasumi started bawling again and Sokka looked up at her cry. Also Iroh was there, and Zuko's first daughter, Juujika; they were playing Paisho, Iroh was teaching her and she caught on quickly. She looked more like a normal Fire Nation girl, pale skin, black hair, but she had blue eyes, which were from Sokka. She was 8 and had started fire bending when she was 6, like her older brother, Heisui, had. Juujika and Iroh looked up and the young girl got up to see what was wrong with her sister.

"What's wrong?" Juujika asked and Zuko sighed, gesturing to Kasumi, who just cried harder again.

"Urame hit me with water, hard!" she wailed and Urame started his defense again.

"I didn't hit you that hard!" he exclaimed. Iroh just chuckled and stood, going over to his frazzled nephew.

"Could somebody take one of them?" Zuko stressed and his uncle approached Zuko's son, prying his little finger's from the Fire Lord's clothes.

"Come, Prince Urame, lets go walk around the graden." He said and Urame followed his granduncle without too much protest, though still stating that he didn't mean to hit her. Zuko sighed and walked over to Sokka, who had taken the time to sit up.

"Kasumi, where did he hit you?" Sokka asked and Zuko set the darker skinned girl on the seat next to Sokka and she grasped her own arm which she had used to try to shield her self from the water instinctively. Sokka rolled up her sleeve and her skin was slightly tinted red with irritation, but not enough to make even a bruise. "You're fine, you just need a towel." She sniffled and Sokka smiled lightly, kissing her forehead lightly, her upset state soothing some. Zuko smiled some and took a seat next to his daughter, though she was still so small he was still shoulder to shoulder with Sokka. Sokka just looked back at him and was met with a soft kiss. Sokka wasn't too shocked by it, the Fire Lord was comfortable about showing affection in public; well, public was his children and advisers, because it was always fun to make his advisers' skin crawl. Kasumi didn't really notice the kiss, she was use to it, and so was Juujika. Kasumi leaned over and pressed her ear to her one father's stomach.

"Daddy, I don't hear a baby!" she announced and Sokka chuckled at his daughter's innocence.

"Maybe it's sleeping," he said and Juujika hopped into Zuko's lap, unlike her sister, she did not wait for a sign of permission. Zuko grunted from the unexpected impact, his daughter made it clear when she wanted attention.

"When are gonna have the baby?" the oldest daughter asked curiously.

"Soon." Sokka replied and Kasumi put her hand to her darker skinned father' enlarged belly. She giggled as she felt a limb press back against hers.

"It moved!" she squealed, "Am I going to have a lil sister?"

"We won't know until the child is born." Zuko said.

"I want a sister!" Kasumi exclaimed.

"You have one, me." Juujika stated.

"I wanna lil'er sister!" Kasumi said and pouted, she didn't like being the youngest.

"We'll see when the baby comes." Zuko said and the two girls fell quiet for a moment... before the subject of it being a boy started up between the sisters. Zuko sighed, they liked to talk so much, and they could never be quiet for long; girls. He felt a head rest against his shoulder and even though he didn't have to look, but he did, seeing it was Sokka, leaning against him, watching their daughters interact with a small, pure, happy smile on his lips. Zuko just smiled also and his hand found his spouse's, their fingers weaving together and meeting palm to palm. Sokka tilted his head up and smiled softly at Zuko, in a particular affectionate mood today, being pregnant he had mild mood swings, Zuko had to say he liked this one the best. The Fire Lord pressed a kiss to Sokka's temple and his lover sighed in contentment, leaning more against Zuko, a small chuckle escaping him.

"You're wet." Sokka Murmured

"Courtesy of our daughter." Zuko grumbled, leaning his head against Sokka's, causing the darker skinned man to laugh quietly, and snuggling against his spouse more.

"I hope its just water."

"Courtesy of our son."

Sokka chuckled and neither could think of where they would rather be.

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Cute family time for the first chapter, Heisui is in the next one 


	2. 9 Years Later

Heisui gazed out at the Fire Nation, sitting on his window sill, legs dangling outside in the hot late summer air. He had just dodged his only brother's water bending, even if it meant his youngest sister got soaked. She'd run off, even after he'd tried to talk to her, she wanted 'daddy'. Heisui still considered Sokka as his father, Zuko as his other father, he knew the difference, but to stop the confusion of which father for his siblings, Sokka had agreed to be called mother from then on.

Heisui was 17 now, and he was much taller than when he was 8, yet not one of the tallest fire benders. He'd let his hair grow out and it was in a long pony tail that was to his shoulder blades when it was bounded up, which it was now, with a black strap of cloth; the advisers wanted it trimmed, Fire Nation hair was suppose to be long, but not _that_ long. Heisui didn't want it trimmed though, he wanted some sign of rebellion, and it seemed to be enough to get under the old people's skin. His yellow eyes were no longer large and filled with curiosity, but narrowed with boredom of the repetitive days; everything was so dull in the palace, filled with work and mind numbing lecturing from the advisers. The most entertaining times were when his siblings got into trouble, and the advisers would get pissed, but they couldn't do anything about it, even as children, they had a higher royal ranking than they did. But he hadn't been raised like this; he'd been raised in the South Pole, then in the Fire Nation village for two years, then here...

The advisers had been disgusted with him and Sokka, because they were Water Tribe, but besides that, they said that they were both vulgar and ignorant about customs and royal manners. His siblings, Heisui saw, where quite naturally polite in mannerisms and were taught about all royal business, he had been too, but not as young as them. When he looked at his siblings... he saw perfectly sculpted dolls; they did as they were told and absorbed what ever was fed to them. He didn't like the idea of being controlled; it never set well in his stomach. When he'd been through those classes, he'd been frustrated and he'd 'questioned' things. The advisers didn't like it when he questioned things. He wanted to know why the war had started. He guessed they were use to teaching little royal children, who hadn't lived outside the palace before, who didn't think for themselves at such a young age.

He remembered when he still had to go through those classes, he had actually missed going to public school down in the village. He was stuck in here now, learning traditions and terms for this culture. He wanted to leave the Fire Nation. He had wanted to see beyond these people's view of the world and see his through his own. He'd even gone to his uncle, Uncle Aang, to see if he could leave with him...

"Uncle Aang, Uncle Aang..." 11 year old Heisui ran after the Avatar and grasped the monk's hand. It was time for Aang to leave the Fire Nation, but he had a request for his uncle, and he didn't ask for things that often. Aang tilted his head to look at the boy and smiled that childish smile he always had around children, that same 12 year old smile he had had years ago. Heisui looked up forlornly at his uncle, his little red royal robes dragging on the floor, he was still shorter than the other fire bending children, and he'd been made to wear them by Zuko's advisers for his royal classes. "Uncle Aang, can I go to the Earth Kingdom too? Please? I don't wanna listen to the old people blabber on about junk..." Aang's smile softened from its cheeriness, sympathetic towards his nephew.

"No, Prince Heisui," he said, patting the young bender's hair lightly, "You have to stay here, you know that."

"Don't call me that," Heisui pouted, "I'm no prince, I don't want to be a prince, I wanna go back to the South Pole, I wanna see Gran-Gran and Grandpa..." Aang knelt down to the young boy's level and Heisui fell quiet, still overwhelmed with all the information the advisers were trying to stuff into his brain. The mannerisms, the knowledge, the royal place, the Fire Nation, honor, pride; it was so important to them, but he didn't understand it. His father had a new baby, and he was stuck in a small room with a quill, paper, a smelly old person and endless speeches. It was like his father had found his perfect life, and he was not part of it any more. Why was everything so... complicated?

"But you _are_ a prince," Aang said, smiling still, "You should be proud of who you are."

"I don't want to be a prince..." Heisui said sadly, "I never wanted this, why do I have to listen to old people blabber on about nothing?" Aang laughed lightly, remembering his dislike of listening to the old Monks lecture him when he was learning everything about being the Avatar. It was still a burden with the title, and he knew Zuko had gone through it, but Zuko had been born into royalty, and then taken out; Heisui was born poor, then suddenly he had all these responsibilities that he had to uphold. It was hard. Aang had lost all of his friends when he learned he was the Avatar, they all thought he was too powerful to play with. He wished Heisui the best, and hoped the young boy could sort things out and not get too overwhelmed.

"You're special, Heisui." Aang said, hoping to pass on a little wisdom, he didn't want such a young boy to suffer at such a young age. Moving so much, having so much hit him so fast... he was only 11; Aang had not had to deal with this until he was 12. How much pressure was he under exactly? He wasn't sure; but he wanted to help, "You are a prince, you're the prince of the Fire Nation, yet you're not full Fire Nation," Heisui's eyes gazed at the floor, slowly filling with tears, "But, you have to find out who your own person is. Just because that is _what_ you are, it doesn't mean that is _who_ you are." He tilted Heisui's head up and smiled more gently as he saw watery yellow orbs. He whipped them away with his thumbs and pulled the young boy into a hug, Heisui needed it.

Heisui held tight to his uncle, burying his face into the air bender's shoulder for a good minute until he was no longer upset. Aang always made him feel better; he wondered why he was so smart, but not so old. Aang loosened his grip on his nephew and stood; he had to leave. Heisui stayed put, knowing Aang wouldn't let him come with him and his Aunt and Cousins; Aunt Katara had a 1 year old son then, along with Aori.

"You'll be alright," Aang said and Heisui nodded sadly

"Right..." he said and with only one last pat on his head, Aang left. Heisui sighed and heard his father laughing not too far away, surely with his other father and the baby; his sister. He wanted to go and join them, but he felt like he would be intruding. He instead left for his quiet room...

Heisui still remembered his village in the South Pole, it was nothing like this. So what about earth benders? He'd never met one before, he was curious. He wanted to know what the Northern water tribes were about. He just didn't want to be stuck here... Not anymore

His father, Sokka, was very content with his siblings, of course sometimes they drove them all mad, and it surprised him how much his fathers loved each other, still, after so many years. Didn't 'love' die after years of being around each other constantly? Kaijin and many of the other people's parents seemed to be fighting all the time. The only other happy couple he knew was his Aunt Katara and Uncle Aang. It was all sickeningly sweet sometimes. Kaijin always said it was cute, he found it embarrassing because they were _his_ family.

He heard a faint whistle and his mind came back to earth. Yellow eyes darted to the palace wall, where, speak of the devil, Kaijin was hanging onto the wall by just her arms supporting her. Heisui blinked, and then smiled lightly, waving at her from his window perch. She gave a mocking blow kiss and grinned. She'd grown over the years, and not just around the middle, and she was still not rail thin like most of the girls in the village; she said it was baby fat, and Heisui remained silent about the subject. He really didn't care what she looked like, she was his best friend. Her hair was short and most of the time, bound up like the rest of the girls', but she often let it free when she could.

He sat up more to give her a sign that he'd be right down, but he heard his bed room door, and a quick glance at the old secretary adviser, he quickly gave her a sign to go away; he didn't want her to get into trouble. She blinked curiously, but got the hint, slipping down out of view. He turned back around to the hunched over old man, who came to the window, seeing what the young prince was looking at, but seeing nothing he looked at Heisui.

"Princes don't sit in windows, come inside." Heisui rolled his eyes, but obeyed, feet landing on the floor of his room. For a teenager's room, it was fairly clean; maids came in regularly, picking up clothes off the floor and messing up his perfectly messy room. But it was his room, and his home, and he knew that; he accepted that. He also tuned out the adviser as he was ushered out for royal business.

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Please leave a review of what you think, thank you 


	3. Day at the Beach

It took me a bunch of times to write this whole chapter, but its done

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"Heisui snuck out again!" Aori sang cheerfully, currently sitting next to Kaijin on the bobbing dock that all three had dubbed their own personal hang out over 10 years ago. It was just a branch of beach outside the village and behind some trees. Heisui and Kaijin had cleaned it up over that time. It was no longer seaweed infested and the old over turned boat had an amateur's fix up job, but it did float. A small shelter was even fashioned under some bent trees and covered with planks of wood. They would sit there when it started to rain or if they needed to stash something from home. Heisui would even find Kaijin there some mornings if things weren't going well at home.

Aori was now 13 and she visited every season that her father was. She was still a bubbling entity of pure energy. She wore clothes similar to the water tribes, but she didn't wear her coat or sleeves; especially not in Fire Nation weather. Her skin was dark like her cousin Heisui's, but her eyes were grey like her father's, and her mother's hair, cut short and let free. She lifted off the dock to her feet with a gust of wind and ran to her approaching cousin. She had gotten her air bending from her father, of course, and was quite talented with it; Aang had taught her everything he knew about his original element. Heisui smiled as his cousin ran towards him; she latched onto his arm as soon as she was in range to tackle him, but she was too light to knock him down.

"Hey Aori." He greeted, still walking towards the dock. He was wearing normal Fire Nation clothes, grey long sleeves with a red sleeveless over it and black pants. Kaijin stood from the dock and brushed off her clothes from sand to wait for her friend; she wore a red sleeveless shirt and pants. When they were all together by the dock, Aori let go of Heisui's arm and ran back to the dock where a long stick rested.

"My dad let me borrow the glider for the day!" the young air bender said cheerfully and she used some bending to trigger two long orange wings and a tail popping out from the sides. Kaijin blinked at the strange contraption.

"What is it?" she asked and prodded the orange cloth, feeling it was strong but soft from being weathered and worn. Aori grinned.

"A glider, it catches the wind current and lets you fly!" she eagerly bounced up and down. "You've got to see!" she swung the glider behind her and jumped off the dock, scaring both fire benders. They thought she was going to dive into the salt water of the ocean, but instead she veered up ward, flying around the area, grinning and waving at them. Kaijin clapped and cheered while Heisui just smiled some, folding his arms and watching his cousin loop around in the sky. It was a truly sight, seeing someone flying free as a bird. Aori had such a cheerful spirit and so much of it. The two fire benders watched her tricks and Kaijin leaned over, touching his arm with her shoulder; he had a few inches on her.

"So are your advisors hunting you down again?" she asked teasingly.

"Maybe," Heisui answered, "I didn't stick around long enough to find out." He sighed, "Why can't I just walk around town like I used to? It sucks being a prince."

"It can't be that bad." Kaijin said.

"I can't leave the palace without an escort," Heisui complained, "At least I'm not supposed to. And even then the advisors have a problem with anyone seeing me, because I'm only 'half' Fire Nation." Kaijin tore her eye away from Aori's flying to look at her friend.

"Heisui, that doesn't matter." She said sincerely, "You're a full fledged Fire Nation native to me." Heisui was quiet a minute, yellow eyes focused on his cousin, but his mind wasn't.

"I'm part Water Tribe." He said, not wanting his other heritage to be forgotten. He'd been raised as a Water Tribe native since his birth; it was still a part of him, despite being a fire bender.

"Yeah." Kaijin agreed and looked back at Aori's flying, thinking. She wondered if all Water Tribe natives were like Heisui. He definitely wasn't as vicious as all the others, though he did have his delinquent and rebellious streak, "But you're not just Water tribe and Fire Nation; you're my friend too." Heisui only nodded slightly, it was nice to remember that fact.

"I'm thinking of going to the North Pole." Heisui announced and Kaijin blinked, confused.

"Is your dad going to let you?" she asked, "I mean Lord Zuko."

"I'm not going to _ask_," Heisui stressed the last word, "I could always sneak aboard a ship to the Earth Kingdom and work from there." Kaijin's eye's budged, staring at him.

"What?!" she exclaimed, "the Earth Kingdom is dangerous, not everyone is on peaceful terms with the Fire Nation yet!"

"It doesn't look like the Fire Nation is completely at peace with everyone you know." Heisui mumbled but Kaijin heard him.

"That's crazy, Heisui. Why would you want to leave the Fire Nation? You've got everything here."

"But I can't **do** anything here," Heisui stressed, meeting eyes with Kaijin, "I'm stuck here in that palace while the old people go over repetitive information, and not they're starting to bug me about finding a fiancé; a royal kind of fiancé. I want out. I want to find out what the world is like before I'm stuck here forever like my parents are." Kaijin bit her bottom lip firmly, glancing back at the air bender and pondering the situation.

"I suppose is does make sense." She said and Heisui was quiet again, watching his friend; who was watching Aori with unmoving eyes, "You're the only friend I've ever had, Heisui." She murmured, "I don't wan you do get hurt."

"Come with me." Heisui offered and Kaijin looked at him with surprise.

"Go with you?" she asked, "To the North Pole?"

"Why not? You said it yourself you can't stand anyone here besides me."

Kaijin looked at the ground, hands folding behind her back. She had never really fit in with the other Fire Nation people. Heisui liked that about her, but he also knew her parents ha driven her to it. He'd heard them yelling at her, mocking her weak bending an she was a disgrace for not marrying young; she never even had a date before. They hated Heisui, and Kaijin kept him away from her parents as much as she could. She didn't even let Heisui come to the house, he always met her at their beach.

"But I've never left the fire Nation before." She said.

So come with me, we'll see what it's like together," he urged and after a tense silence, Kaijin suddenly let loose a giggle, "What?" Heisui was bewildered.

"Sounds like one of those tragic romance stories." She commented while smiling and Heisui rolled his eyes.

"You read too much," Heisui said and kicked a rock off the dock and into the water. There was no romantic relationship between them. He'd thought there would be, since she was the only fire bender around his age and the only girl he really liked; but he couldn't seem to like her in the same way as most girls and boys did. They had attempted kissing once though, but they hadn't had any magical spark they often heard about when people kissed. It was just very awkward afterwards.

Aori landed afterwards with elegant swirl of wind, the glider snapping back into a pole.

"Ta-da!" she cheered and Heisui and Kaijin clapped for her performance, or what they had seen of it. They stayed around that area for a good while, talking and Aori ran around the beach, chasing and being chased by the ocean waves that washed ashore. Heisui found if peaceful, but he still wondered what was on the other side of that endless sea.

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Review please 


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